Terms of Service

1. Definitions

Service means the UnitedLines platform including website, mobile applications, APIs, and all associated services. User means any individual or entity creating an account or accessing the Service. Content means text, images, files, links, and any other materials uploaded or posted by Users. We, Us, Company means UnitedLines Ltd. You means the individual or entity agreeing to this agreement. End-to-End Encryption means cryptographic protection of User Content such that UnitedLines cannot access plaintext content without User keys.

2. Eligibility and Account Registration

You must be at least 13 years of age to use the Service. Users under 16 are subject to parental consent requirements under applicable law. Users under 13 are not permitted to create accounts. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and password. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to your account. You are responsible for all activities occurring under your account, whether or not authorized by you. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that are not actively used or appear dormant for extended periods.

3. User Responsibilities and Acceptable Use

You agree not to post, upload, or transmit Content that: (a) violates applicable law, including copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secret rights; (b) is defamatory, abusive, hateful, harassing, or violent; (c) threatens, intimidates, or incites harm against individuals or groups; (d) contains graphic sexual content or child exploitation material; (e) is spam, phishing, or malware; (f) impersonates another person or entity; (g) violates privacy or publicity rights; (h) circumvents platform security or authentication mechanisms.

You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. You must not access or search the Service using any unauthorized method or bot. You agree not to collect, harvest, or aggregate personal data from the Service for purposes of profiling, tracking, or resale. You agree not to exploit encrypted messages for purposes of evading legal process or facilitating criminal activity.

4. Content Rights and Licensing

You retain all ownership rights in Content you create and post. By posting Content to the Service, you grant UnitedLines Ltd a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, display, distribute, and perform the Content to the extent necessary to provide the Service. This license does not grant us rights to sell, resell, or commercialize your Content. We do not monetize user-generated Content through advertising or data sales.

You are solely responsible for ensuring you have the right to post any Content you upload. You agree to indemnify us against all claims arising from Content you post that infringes third-party rights. We are not liable for user-generated Content and make no warranty regarding its accuracy, legality, or quality.

5. Moderation and Enforcement

We reserve the right to moderate, remove, or restrict Content that violates these Terms, applicable law, or community standards. All moderation actions are logged in a public transparency log including moderator identity, timestamp, reason, and justification. Users can access this log to audit platform governance. You may appeal any moderation decision within 30 days by submitting evidence that your Content should not have been removed or restricted.

We may suspend or terminate user accounts that repeatedly violate these Terms or engage in coordinated abuse campaigns. For severe violations (including child exploitation, credible threats of violence, or unlawful harassment), suspension may be immediate and without prior notice. Shadow banning (restricting visibility of posts to only the author) may be applied to users engaged in coordinated abuse, spam, or misinformation campaigns, with corresponding entries in our transparency log.

6. Transparency Log and Moderation Appeals

UnitedLines publishes a public transparency log of all moderation actions. The log includes account suspensions, content removals, abuse score changes, and moderator actions with full justification. Community members and researchers may query this log to detect bias, audit enforcement patterns, and hold moderators accountable. No personal information identifying targets of moderation is included in the public log beyond account identifiers necessary for appeals.

Users have the right to appeal any moderation decision. Appeals must be submitted within 30 days of the action and include evidence supporting your position. We will review your appeal and provide a written response within 14 days. Repeated frivolous appeals may result in dismissal without further review.

7. End-to-End Encryption and Server Limitations

Direct messages and file transfers in encrypted threads use Signal Protocol encryption. UnitedLines servers do not store plaintext message content and cannot decrypt messages without User encryption keys. This means: (a) if a User loses their encryption key, we cannot recover the plaintext message; (b) we cannot comply with requests to produce plaintext copies of encrypted messages; (c) legal requests for message intercepts are technically impossible for UnitedLines to fulfill; (d) security breaches or server hacks do not expose message content to attackers.

Users are solely responsible for backup of encryption keys. Shared encryption keys between message participants cannot be recovered if lost. We are not liable for message loss or inaccessibility due to User key loss or device loss.

8. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN AS-IS AND AS-AVAILABLE BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THIRD-PARTY SERVICES OR CONTENT LINKED FROM THE SERVICE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL UNITEDLINES BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY UNDER THESE TERMS SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE POUND (GBP 1.00). SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT PERMIT LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, IN WHICH CASE THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

9. Intellectual Property Rights

The Service, including all software, design, graphics, and compilation, is owned by UnitedLines Ltd and protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. We grant Users a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Service for personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or otherwise exploit our intellectual property without prior written permission. Open-source components included in the Service are governed by their respective licenses.

10. Termination and Suspension

We may terminate your account at any time for violation of these Terms, applicable law, or reasonable safety concerns. You may terminate your account at any time by visiting account settings and selecting delete account. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. We may retain archived copies of your data as required by law or for backup purposes, but will delete personally identifiable data within 90 days except where retention is legally required.

11. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the United Kingdom, specifically England and Wales, without regard to conflict of law principles. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales for resolution of any disputes. If you are not a resident of the United Kingdom, you consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in those courts. This choice of law and jurisdiction applies to all claims and disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms.

12. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Before initiating legal proceedings, you agree to attempt in good faith to resolve disputes through negotiation. If negotiation fails within 30 days, either party may initiate formal dispute resolution through the courts of England and Wales. We do not use arbitration or alternative dispute resolution that would prevent you from accessing courts.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless UnitedLines Ltd and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claim, demand, loss, or liability arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) Content you post or transmit; (c) your violation of these Terms or applicable law; (d) your infringement of third-party intellectual property rights; (e) your violation of privacy or publicity rights of others. We reserve the right to control defense of any indemnified claim, and you agree to cooperate fully in our defense.

14. Premium and Subscription Terms

Premium subscription provides access to advanced features including scheduling, analytics, community creation, and enhanced verification tools. Subscription fees are charged monthly or annually depending on plan selected. You agree that charges will be applied to the payment method you provide. Subscription automatically renews at the end of each billing period unless you cancel. You may cancel your subscription at any time, and your access to premium features ends at the end of your current billing period. We do not provide refunds for partial months. Changes to pricing take effect at the start of your next billing period after 30 days notice.

15. Service Modifications and Availability

We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service or any features at any time. We will provide 30 days notice of material changes that negatively impact users, except where immediate action is needed for security or legal compliance. We are not liable for any loss resulting from service modifications, suspensions, or discontinuations. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability, though we use reasonable efforts to maintain service uptime.

16. Third-Party Links and Services

The Service may contain links to third-party websites and services. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of third-party sites. Your use of third-party services is governed by their terms of service and privacy policies. We do not endorse or guarantee third-party services and are not liable for damages arising from your interactions with them.

17. Entire Agreement and Modifications

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other policies posted on the Service, constitute the entire agreement between you and UnitedLines regarding the Service. We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time by posting updates on the Service. Your continued use of the Service after modifications constitutes acceptance of updated Terms. Material changes to these Terms will be accompanied by 30 days notice.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms should be directed through platform contact methods. The service operates at UnitedLines.co.uk and UnitedLines.uk. Formal legal notices should be sent to UnitedLines Ltd in accordance with applicable service of process rules.